When Sacrifice and Extravagance Converge
Let’s discuss the highest level of generosity—extravagant giving. Anybody can be involved in obedience giving, thank God. It’s the only place to start on the journey, but it’s still just the start.
When you begin to graduate through your spiritual journey to reach the highest level, not only are you blessed by Him, but you also get closer to Him. You receive an understanding of the Holy Spirit and the gifts and develop greater gifts. When you give, you experience a supernatural release in your life that empowers you to impact all around you for generations to come—for the sake of the gospel—and it’s unmistakable.
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I must be entirely honest about this level. You will probably only meet a handful of people in your whole life who live as humble, openhanded, extravagant givers. When they say, “Hey, that guy right there will give you the shirt off his back,” they’re talking about an extravagant giver, who will probably give you shirts for 20 other people too.
That’s where I want the church to be. I want to see people go out and live extravagantly generous lives. That’s why I often tell people in the church I pastor, “If you go to a restaurant and you are not a decent tipper, do not tell them you go to Global Vision because we are a generous people, hoping to become more extravagantly generous every year—and ‘take hold of that which is truly life.’”
Intersection of Sacrifice and Extravagance
Whenever we eat out, my wife, Tai, and I have a practice of asking the Holy Spirit how much to tip the wait staff, and we always let it become an exercise in biblical generosity. While I don’t necessarily consider generous tipping an example of extravagant giving (though it can be), it is at the very least a clear way for tithers to move into the sacrificial level with greater spontaneity in the spirit. The primary reason folks don’t tip well is because they want to keep more of their money for themselves rather than be a blessing to someone else. It really is that simple.
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